Real estate’s 2022 DE&I performance – the results are in

Over the last few years, the interconnected themes of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) have risen up the corporate agenda across the real estate sector. As they have done so, the scale and scope of the challenge they represent has also become better understood. Real Estate Balance has been at the forefront of this process, not least through our regular industry-wide survey which, since 2016, has provided the most comprehensive view of the sector’s performance in addressing the DE&I challenge.

The results of our 2022 survey are now hot off the press and I’m pleased to report there is much to celebrate. Companies and employees generally agree that DE&I practise has improved, which is just as well, since it has become much more important to employees’ job satisfaction.

There is also a clear increase in the ambition of companies to measure and track DE&I data for their workforce across an increasing range of measures, from gender, ethnicity and social mobility through to neurodiversity. REB’s data collection guide, published last year, provides timely advice both on what data to collect and how to achieve high response rates.

One positive effect of the broad shift towards hybrid working post-pandemic is that the ability to work flexibility no longer represents a barrier to accommodating diverse groups. At the same time, some challenges stubbornly persist. Across the sector, gender representation is close to parity from graduate level up to middle management, but it falls off a cliff at senior leadership level: a situation that has not changed since 2016. Additionally, the sector’s commitment to working together to drive improved DE&I outcomes throughout the value chain remains limited.

For the first time in 2022, we attempted to assess the level of social mobility in the real estate workforce. Across a number of measures, respondents had more indicators of advantage than the UK population as a whole. In particular, they were much more likely to have attended independent school than the wider population.

Overall, companies and their employees agreed that the biggest DE&I challenges related to gender, ethnicity and social mobility, although views differed on the most effective ways to address them. While employers emphasised the role of action plans and working groups, employees were much more keen to see genuine change in culture and behaviour, as well as targeted development support for specific minorities.

As one respondent put it, “A genuine commitment at board level is absolutely essential for effective D&I. At the moment, all I’m seeing is cursory gestures, which are mere PR stunts and ‘seen to be doing’ exercises.”

Thankfully, this view was not universal and there were some examples of great practise in the sector.

To anyone currently grappling with DE&I challenges, I’d recommend taking a look at the many free resources available on the Real Estate Balance website. At the very least, check out the 2022 survey results – not only do they make for fascinating reading, they also reveal some interesting drivers and barriers to progress and where change is needed most.